Episode 1: Risky Ventures
by Jason Race
Summary: The first in a series of episodes that explore the "lower decks" crew (only this one will be posted here, the rest will be posted at Http://home.earthlink.net/~jrrace when I complete them. Hope you like . Please review if you read it - bad or good. Bu


# ØThis is my first episode in the Junior Officers Series.The idea for this series has 'morphed' quite a bit from its first inception in December 2000, but is still true to the ideas.Thank to LZClotho for her part in the discussion and for inspiring me to pursue the story.

ØI would also like to thank Gina Dartt (whose web site can be found on my links page) for inspiring me to write fan fiction and for giving my idea support.It's an honor to receive comments from a Trek fan fiction author of your stature.I hope you find my work on this series enjoyable.

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# Star Trek: Junior Officers

## **Risky Ventures**

_(Pilot Episode)_

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Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the starship _Enterprise_ stepped into his quarters after what had been a very hard week.His last meeting with Q, an omnipotent being who enjoyed toying with Picard, had left him in a mentally weakened state.Normally, Q's antics would be tricks or some other way to teach Picard a lesson.But this time Picard couldn't be sure whether the Q Continuum was really trying to destroy humanity and Q had somehow helped him stop it or whether it was just another one of Q's antics.Picard had thought about this for the better part of a week and still had not been able to resolve it.

After the doors had closed behind him, he removed his command jacket, placing it on the back of the chair behind his work desk.He walked over to replicator by the wall and instructed it to create a cup of hot Earl Grey tea – the Captain's personal favorite.He noticed it helped to clear his mind of work and relax.He walked over to the windows that occupied the far wall of his quarters, and watched as the warp field distorted the stars, giving the impression they were streaking by the ship.He sighed, put his tea on the table and sat down on the sofa in front of the windows.

The _Enterprise_ was currently en route to Starbase 23 for crew rotation and minor upgrades to the ship's computer core.The Captain was grateful that the ship was back in its normal routine again, far from the last few weeks that had been very hard on the _Enterprise_.The recent betrayal of Ensign Ro impacted the Captain on a great scale.Picard had always thought Ro would be the model officer and would advance far in the fleet, but she had instead sympathized with the Maquis and decided to join them.Picard, though, did not remove her from the Starfleet roster – partially because she never resigned and partially because he didn't want to believe she would never return.

He took another sip of his tea and reflected on the past, trying to be content that he had managed to save the ship on countless occasions, even if members of his crew were forced to die.The image of Tasha Yar briefly surfaced as he remembered the senseless death that took her life away.She was killed for the amusement of Amus of Vagra II, a creature who had been nicknamed "The Skin Of Evil" amongst his crew because of its ability to assume any shape.Yar, along with countless other security officers throughout the seven years he had commanded the _Enterprise_ had gave their lives for the good of the ship._Too many times_, Picard thought with regret.

A vibration began to shake the ship and the Captain looked at his cup of tea just in time to see it fall to the ground.This was not a normal vibration or any type of meteor storm he could remember.He quickly got up and retrieved his command jacket from the chair – one of the benefits of Starfleet's new uniforms, which put the color designation on the top with the rest of the uniform remaining black.

He left his quarters, heading for the turbolift at the end of the corridor.He was halfway to the lift when the lights dimmed slightly and the familiar klaxons of a red alert rang throughout the ship.

Picard to bridge," he said as he touched his communicator."Report."

"We've run into some turbulence," His first officer, Will Riker, responded."We can't tell what's causing it and the effect is getting steadily worse."

"I'm on my way," Picard responded as he stepped into the turbolift.He gave the computer the command to go to the bridge and the lift moved.The ride was long and anxiety edged up with each lurch.The bridge was eight decks above but the trip made it seem even further.Finally, though, he was deposited on the bridge – literally.The last lurch sent the Captain hurtling out of the turbolift right into his tactical officer, Lieutenant Worf.

"Sorry, Lieutenant," he commented to the Klingon as he walked down the ramp of the bridge to find his command chair, which Riker had already vacated.Riker resumed his normal position in the chair to the right of the Captain, swiveling his monitor to look at the reports coming in from the various departments on the ship.

"So far only minor bruises have been reported among the crew, sir," Riker reported."However, if this keeps up, the injuries will probably get much worse," he noted further.

"Indeed."Lieutenant Worf was a formidable man to run into, in any event._Being propelled out of the turbolift didn't help_, Picard thought wryly, shifting his shoulders beneath his uniform to ease the ache of the bruise he could already feel along his right shoulder.

"Mr. Data, are sensors detecting anything that could be causing these disruptions?"

"No sir," Data replied."However, the disruptions do seem to be occurring in normal intervals, not unlike waves on a beach.A new "wave" impacts the ship every 3.41 seconds."

"Data, has any ship come through this sector in the past reported anything like this?" Riker asked.

"Standby," Data said as he keyed in the data, another wave moving over the ship."No sir, Starfleet records record no unexplained phenomena in this sector."

"None that has been able to be reported, at any rate," Picard reminded them.Picard studied his options, noting that the waves were getting progressively stronger the further they went.An idea struck him as he stood up and walked to the helm control, steadying himself by placing his hand on the back of Data's chair.

"Helm, bring us about.Take us back the way we came."

"Aye, sir," Ensign Mark Burton, a recent Academy graduate, replied as he engaged the correct sequence on his board to initiate the order."Course has been reversed, Captain," he confirmed.Burton, still curious to what type of phenomena this could be, sent a "quiet" request to Lieutenant Jennifer Denson who was working in a sensor control room on Deck 6, to see if she had any data on it herself.Of course, he thought, any data would be transferred to the Ops and Tactical stations on the bridge but he also wanted to make sure that she was okay.

However, the reversal of course did not seem to do anything to reverse the waves intensity.In fact, it increased them at a rate that was much faster than before.

"Report, Data.Why are the waves getting more powerful?" Picard asked his Operations officer.

Data also looked perplexed by the situation."Unknown, sir," the android said."But the wave intervals have increased.A wave impacts the ship every 1.32 seconds now.If the waves increase in intensity at this rate, the ship will lose structural integrity in approximately 6.8 minutes."

"Mr. Burton, can we go to warp?" the captain asked the young helm officer.

"No sir, the waves seem to be interfering with the warp manifolds.We can't create a stable warp bubble.Impulse only."

Data, who overheard this last sentence, sent a query into the computer for the exact frequency of the waves and to compare it to the frequency that is emitted by the impulse engines.

"Sir," Data called to the Captain as he finished analyzing the data, "I believe I know the point from which the waves are generating."

"Continue, Mr. Data," the captain ordered, concentrating his full attention on the gold-skinned officer.Riker had also stood up and was steadying himself on the Helm station's seat.

"The wave frequencies are the exact opposite of the frequency that is emitted by our Impulse drive.I do not yet know how this is possible, sir, but I believe if we completely power down the engines that the phenomenon should stop."

"Make it so, Ensign," Picard instructed the helm.Burton stopped the ship and shut down the engines.Everyone could tell that the waves had begun to dissipate, until all waves ceased.

"Sir, the waves have stopped.Structural integrity is holding."

"Yes Mr. Data," Picard said as he looked out to the forward viewscreen, "but where did they originate?"

The senior staff was gathered in the Conference room of the _Enterprise_, each going over the data on their PADDs.The signs of a yellow alert could be seen on the panels around the room, the Captain having ordered the stand down from red alert for now.Picard entered from the right, walking towards his chair at the far end of the table.To his right, Riker, Data, and Geordi LaForge, the ship's Chief Engineer, were seated.Troi, the ship's counselor, Beverly Crusher, the Chief Medical Officer, and Worf were on the left.

He sat down and straightened his tunic by tugging at its front.Picard looked to his first officer and gave him a slight nod, signaling the beginning of the meeting.Riker had come to know and memorize each of the Captain's nods, knowing instantaneously if he needed to take an away team planet side or take command of the bridge.

"Commander Data has been researching our situation and has come up some interesting information," he said, turning his head to Data.

"Very well," Picard replied, turning his head to Data."Proceed, Commander."

"Thank you, sir," the android said as he stood up from his seat and walked to the monitor behind the Captain, syncing the information in his PADD to the display.He continued, shifting his position to face the staff, "I have cross-referenced our current situation with the main computer and discovered an occasion on which the _Enterprise_ has come in contact with similar phenomena."

Data touched a couple buttons on the display and sent the links out to the rest of the senior crew's PADDs.Data had learned that prolonged silence was not a good thing, and so his positronic brain suggested he summarize the two situations.

"As you can see, the incident in question occurred on stardate 43205," he began."When the _Enterprise _was investigating the Promellian battle cruiser _Cleponji_ in the Orelious sector.The aceton assimilators hidden in the asteroid field drained power from the ship as it was being used, thereby directing the ship's own energy back as radiation."

"But Data, this phenomenon doesn't feed off of our energy," Lieutenant Commander LaForge reminded the android.

"You are partially correct, Geordi," Data said. His friendship with the engineer was extremely close and because of that did not always use proper protocol."However, this phenomenon takes power exclusively from the fusion reactors used by our impulse drive and directs it back at us in the form of gravimetric waves.These waves interfere with the warp manifolds, which inhibits our ability to produce a warp bubble."

"Data, is this a natural phenomenon or some form of weapon?" Picard asked.

"I have insufficient data to make a full conclusion, sir.Since the gravimetric waves were not reported to Starfleet prior to this it would be logical to assume it is something that is not natural in this region of space.However, it does not exhibit the properties of a weapon either.It would take far to long for gravimetric waves to disable a ship, and the attacker would not be able to maneuver within this region of space in the ensuing battle.In addition, there is nothing within sensor range that is producing a energy signature – at least not one that our sensors can detect."

"So whatever this is, it couldn't have been here for more than six months," Will summarized, looking at the PADD.The _Lexington_ had passed through this sector on a routine mapping mission and reported nothing out of the ordinary with the space occupying this area.

"Correct, Commander.However, we have yet to determine what "it" is."

"So if this is not a weapon and has only been here for six months, what caused it?" Picard asked.

"I can not say for certain, Captain.My current research has lead me to the conclusion that it is directly related to the output of our fusion reactors."

"But," Counselor Deanna Troi added, "if this impacts our impulse engines exclusively, then why did it prevent us from going to warp?"

Geordi stood up from his seat, beginning to realize the path that Data was leading up too."Because if the waves' modulation is the direct opposite of the modulation of our fusion reactors, then it would also affect the warp manifolds.Since the manifolds weren't designed to operate in regions emitting this frequency then they would not be able initialize properly."

"Is there a way to reverse the frequency of our engines to match the waves Geordi?" Doctor Crusher questioned the engineer.

"We could probably re-align the modulation of the fusion reactors without much trouble.However, if Data is getting to what I think he is, it won't matter what modulation we run the engines at because the gravimetric waves will still be the opposite of that.What we're looking at here, Captain, is a completely unknown phenomenon.I'll need some time to work with my engineering crew before I can offer any real solution."

"Agreed," Picard said, nodding.

"Geordi," Will said, "is there a limit on how long we can stay here?"

"I don't think so, Commander.The gravimetric waves don't seem to have an impact on our energy consumption, but we will have to keep the fusion reactors offline."

"Understood.Data, Geordi," Picard said, pointing at them."I want you two to get down to engineering and find out how we can get out of these waves."

"Aye, sir," they both replied as they nodded at each other and exited the door, heading towards the turbolift.

"Doctor, what was the extent of the crew's injuries?" Picard said, confident that his people would get them out of this situation as they had so many others.

"There were a few torn ligaments, Captain but for the most part the crew reported only minor bumps and bruises."

"Thank you Doctor," Picard said."Lieutenant Worf, what is the status of the shields?"

"The gravimetric waves has weakened the shields by thirty-four percent.It will be fourteen hours before all the generators will be online again, Sir."

"Then that is how long we will stay," Picard commanded."Dismissed," he further ordered, and watched his people exit through the doors on either side of the conference room.All but one, at any rate.

Commander William T. Riker stayed behind as the others exited, and waited until the last of the staff left before saying anything.

"Is something on your mind, Number One?" Picard questioned, seeing the first officer had remained behind.

"Actually sir, I was wondering when we were going to call the Alpha shift off," he said with a smirk touching his lips."It's almost 1900 hours and we'll need our best people at their best tomorrow"

Picard saw Will's smirk and offered a smile in return."Getting a little fatigued, are we Commander?"

Will straightened into a position most commonly seen in fresh cadets wanting to impress their Commandant."Not at all, Captain.I've got the stamina of a horse," he said with a smile, patting himself on the chest."I'm just worried about the rest of the crew."

Picard grinned at the Commander, wondering how many years back he would have considered this inappropriate behavior for a first officer.Too many to count, his inner voice told himself."Indeed.Very well, announce to the ship that Alpha shift will be relieved by Beta shift at 1900 hours.I am going to retire to my quarters as I do not 'have the stamina of a horse' like you Number One.You have the bridge until Commander Data relieves you."

"Aye, Captain," Will responded as the Captain headed for the door.

"See you at 0800 for crew reports, Will," Picard said as the doors parted for him.Unfortunately, emergency or no emergency, crew reports were a necessity.

"I can hardly wait, Jean-Luc," the first officer responded, dropping the rank since their duty shift was almost over.He then turned and walked out the other door, heading back to the bridge.

The captain entered his quarters for the second time today and took off his uniform jacket.Now another problem plagued the crew of the _Enterprise_.Although he was confident his crew would get the ship through it safely, he had never been able to sleep through the night with a crisis looming on the horizon.Any minute the ship could be in danger again and he always felt he needed to be ready for that possibility.For this reason he didn't replicate his normal night clothes but instead placed his uniform jacket in the recycler, which promptly replicated a fresh one for the Captain.He draped it over the back of the chair behind his desk, as he always did, and took off his tunic, placing it too in the recycler.It replicated a new one and the Captain checked to make sure all four pips were attached to it.The replicator had a bad habit of miscounting lately and he was going to ask Geordi to take a look at it before this crisis developed.

He put the new tunic on and sat down on the couch near the windows, the stars outside the windows not showing any movement at all, as the impulse engines had been completely shut down.He figured he would get up and make some dinner for himself later, but was just to damn tired to get up at the moment.That and his shoulder hurt like hell, the bruise he had received from Worf fully formed now.He sighed and laid his head on the back of the couch, crossing his feet on the table in front of him.

He was wondering how Geordi's progress was coming, knowing full well the Chief Engineer would not retire to his quarters at the end of his duty shift.He was probably utilizing every last member of his engineering team to find a solution to this problem.

Picard sighed, knowing that although his people were performing at their best, he thought that he should be doing something.He didn't know exactly what it was, but he needed to do something.Jean-Luc Picard was not the type to idly sit by while a crisis enveloped his ship.He had always thought that, as a Captain of a starship, he was always responsible for the lives of the people who habitated that ship.

He finally got up off the couch and pulled his fresh uniform jacket off of the chair, putting it on and zipping it up.He needed to focus on something, and staying in his quarters wasn't going to help the ship at all.Once his jacket was on securely, he walked out of his quarters, heading for his ready room.Maybe he could get a head start on those crew reports, he thought as he entered the turbolift.

Ensign Mark Burton, after being relieved by his Beta shift replacement, did not head for his quarters.Instead, he turned left at the next juncture instead of right, and headed for Jennifer Denson's quarters.She had not responded to any of his pages from the bridge and Burton was getting irritated that he couldn't check on her during his duty shift.At last, he reached her quarters and rang the door chime.

There was no response.Perhaps she is eating, he thought.He rang the chime again and still there was no response.His worry was beginning to escalate.

"Computer, locate Lieutenant Jennifer Denson," he commanded the computer.

"_Lieutenant Denson is in Sickbay_" came the feminine voice of the ship's computer.

Burton walked as quickly as he could to the turbolift - not wanting to break protocol but wanting to get to sickbay as quickly as he could.

"Sickbay," he signaled the computer at the beep and the lift began to move to Deck 12.When the lift came to a halt, the doors opened to a corridor with three doors on the right, the entrances to sickbay.

He entered and saw about a dozen people in various states of disarray, although most were mobile.He scanned the room until he found a woman sitting up on a bio bed.A nurse was using a dermal regenerator on her knee.

"Jen!" he shouted over everyone else and ran to her side.They embraced, causing Dr. Crusher to momentarily stop her work.

"Hey Mark," Jennifer said, as casually as she would had he just entered her quarters."Noticing Mark was hugging her tight, asked, "Mark is something wrong?"

"I was so worried about you," he said."I sent pages to the sensor control room you work in at least a dozen times."

Denson burst out laughing, which was not exactly the type of response he was looking for."Oh my God," she got out between laughs."Liz must be pissed at you!"

The doctor gave her a hypospray and said, "I want you to stay here for another minute to let the bone completely heal and then you are free to go."

"Thank you, Doctor," they both said.

"I wasn't quite expecting you to laugh," Mark said, his anxiety turning into relief.He had known Jennifer since the third year of grade school and had been friends ever since.A few months ago, they had escalated their friendship and were now intimate.They both decided to join Starfleet after they graduated and had managed to get the same ship posting, mostly due to an Admiral friend of Lisa's.

"I'm sorry," Lisa responded, as she stopped laughing."I can just imagine Commander MacDougal's face as you kept paging the station!"

"Why don't we get you home?" Mark said, concern lacing his voice.The sooner they were both comfortable the better.

"Okay," she said as she hopped off of the table.The noise made by her hitting the floor caught Beverly's attention.

"Be careful, Lieutenant!I don't want you doing anything overly physical with that knee for a few days.You could re-fracture it," the Doctor snapped.

"Sorry, Doctor.I guess I'm just eager to get home," she replied.

"Aren't we all," Crusher said before moving on to her next patient.

The couple walked through the main entrance to sickbay and out into the corridor.He looked into her eyes for what seemed like an eternity, admiring the light blue color of them and wondering why he didn't ask her earlier to be with him.

"Mark?" she questioned, noticing the amount of attention she was getting from her boyfriend.

"Yes, Jen?" he replied, still looking at her, thankful that nothing serious had happened to her.

"What are you looking at?" she said in a soft voice, noticing the care and tenderness in his eyes.

"You."

She smiled."Come on, honey, let's go," Jen said, noticing they were still standing in the corridor outside sickbay.

"Ok," Mark said, extending his hand out to meet hers.She returned it and they held hands as they walked down the corridor to the lift, not caring how unprofessional it looked.

Jennifer realized that, although she did want to rest, she did not want to go back to her quarters."Mark, is John going to be out tonight?"She was referring to Mark's roommate, John, who worked in Engineering.

"Yeah, he's pulling a double shift in Engineering tonight.He won't be back until 2330 hours.Why do you ask, honey?"

"Well I just didn't really want to go back to my quarters tonight," she said, moving closer to him."I'd rather spend it with you."

"What about the game?"In the Junior Officer's lounges throughout the ship numerous poker games were played every night.Nobody really knew how it all started but Mark guessed it was because word had got out that Riker loved to play and since he had a lot of say when promotions came around the junior officers picked up the habit as well.

"They'll be fine, if they are playing at all," she continued as they reached the turbolift."With all the double-shifts the Engineering personnel are having to put in."

"True," he said as he entered the turbolift."Deck 9," he directed the computer.

"Thank you, dear," she said, hearing his acknowledgement in the destination.Deck 9 was where his quarters were.

"Computer, halt turbolift," he said abruptly."Jen, you don't need to thank me for that.I want to spend as much time as possible with you.I don't regard it as a duty or a request; I regard it as a privilege.I would have let you spend the night with me whether or not John was there."

"I know, Mark.I just feel I should thank you somehow for always being there for me."

"You thank me every day, Jen.You thank me by caring for me as much as I care for you and for putting up with me even when I'm miserable.I've always been there for you, ever since grade school, and I'm never going to stop that, not even if this uniform gets in the way."

"I...I don't," she stuttered."I don't know what to say, Mark."

"You don't have to say a thing, Jen.I understand what you want to say, even if you can't put it into words."

Computer," Jen said softly as she looked at him tenderly, "resume."

The computer beeped, acknowledging the request.The rest of the trip to their quarters they spent looking into each other's eyes, not saying anything but the silence speaking more to each other than any words could ever say.

Later that evening, they lay in each other's arms in the bed, not caring what time it was.Mark's roommate had yet to return so it wasn't past 2330 hours yet.The room was dark, with the exception of the soft light of the stars outside the window.

Mark looked over at his companion, admiring her soft dirty blond hair, her usual ponytail mangled from earlier in the evening and the smooth skin of her body.She looked so innocent, so peaceful, as she lay there."Jen, are you awake?" he spoke softly, not wanting to disturb her if she was, in fact, asleep.

"No," she said, turning over to face him.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"Not before now," she said."But you definitely showed me tonight Mark," she continued softly, the scent of their lovemaking still lingering in the air.

Mark smiled at her, wondering how he could be so lucky as to be with the one he had always wanted.He loved her completely and he was glad that she was able to return that love.Many of his friends had not found a love like this, one that went beyond the physical and became a true bond between two beings.

"I've always known," she told him.

"What?" Mark said, not quite understanding.

"I always knew you loved me"

"You knew?All that time?" Mark asked.He had loved Jennifer since sixth grade, even though he couldn't really identify the emotion that well at the time.By ninth grade, however, he knew it for sure.He just never could gather the courage to tell her.

"I noticed something in the way you looked at me changed in sixth grade, although I couldn't quite figure it out.One of my older girlfriends said you were admiring my body but that didn't fit the way your eyes looked at me.I figured it out in tenth grade though."

He sat up in bed, fully aware that he had to report for duty in less than eight hours and should be sleeping."Why didn't you say anything to me?"

She sat up with him, thinking about that question.The truth was, she really didn't know.During here tenth and eleventh grade years she jumped from boyfriend to boyfriend, not ever finding what she now had with Mark.Maybe I should have taken that chance, she thought."I can't really say, my love.Those years were very turbulent for me.I just couldn't find happiness.Maybe what I was really looking for was you and I didn't let myself believe it.I was all over the place," she finished, smiling at her lover at that last sentence.

Mark returned the smile."I'll say, you must have dated the whole campus," he joked.

For that remark he got a slap on the shoulder."Ouch!" he exclaimed, cradling his shoulder with his other hand.

She shrugged and said, "Hey, you asked for that one."With that she fell back down on the bed."Come on, let's go to bed, dear," she continued, tugging on his arm.

"Yeah, we've got to be up by 0700 at the latest," he replied, releasing himself to her hold.

"I love you, Mark," she told him.

"I love you too, Jen," he responded, surrendering to the grip of sleep with the woman he loved in his arms.

"_The time is 0600 hours_," the computer announced.Mark looked over at the sleeping form of his lover next to him.She never could manage to get up to the computer's call, he recollected.

"Love," he said, kissing her neck.

"Mmmmm," she replied in the tone of voice that said 'yes I know, let me go back to sleep now.'

"Come on now," he continued, as he caressed her midsection, moving his way up to her breasts.

"Mmmm...love.Can't we just stay here today," she pleaded, still not opening her eyes.

"'Fraid not, Jen," he said, turning her head to meet his.He pressed his lips to hers and embraced her.

"Well at least you know how to get me up," she said, smiling at him.She sat up in the bed, and they both realized for the first time they were not alone.

"Knock, knock lovebirds," John said, standing at the entrance to Mark's side of the quarters."Time to get up and save the universe."

Jennifer, thankful she slept with the covers on her, wrapped her body up in them and headed to the ensuite to take a shower and get ready for work.It occurred to her that she didn't have to rush to get up as usual.Her alarm, which is much more forceful than Mark's, didn't go off until 0645, giving her only fifteen minutes to prepare for work.

"Why are you so damn happy?" he asked his roommate as his lover walked past him."You pulled double shifts last night didn't you?"

"Of course I did.Then I came home to find out that we have taken in another occupant," he said."Don't worry about it Mark, I didn't mind," he continued, putting Mark's mind at ease.

"Thanks for understanding, John.I really appreciate it."

"No problem.But, um, Mark," he continued, "maybe you should approach the Captain and see if you can't move in with Jennifer.I mean, don't get me wrong, I love having you here but I think it would be best if you shared the same quarters."

"Okay John, what is your motive?" Mark replied and looked at him suspiciously, knowing that he would not say something like that if it didn't help him at all.He knew he could have Jen here every day and he wouldn't care.

"Damn, your observant," he commented."Well my girlfriend wants to spend a week with me and see how we act around each other before requesting bigger quarters.

"I'll discuss it with Jen later and see what she thinks," Mark replied, actually liking the idea of sharing quarters with his love.

"Discuss what with me?" Jen said as she stepped out of the ensuite in a fresh gold uniform, one gold pip and one black one on her tunic, signifying her rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade.

"I'll see you later, John," he said as he turned and headed for the ensuite.As he passed Jennifer, he added in a whisper, "I'll tell you on your way to Deck 6."

Knowing that was all she was going to get for the time being, she walked over to the dining area that was shared by her lover and John."Do you want anything for breakfast, John?" she said as she turned around to look at him.

"No, thank you Jennifer, I'm on my way out.I ate before you got up."

"Oh, ok.Good luck in Engineering," she wished him, knowing full well the type of pressure they were under from the Captain.

"Thanks," he said as he walked out the door."I'll need it."

She smiled at the last comment, knowing that he was not lying at all.She went over to the replicator and instructed the computer to create two bagels with cream cheese, the favorite breakfast of them both.After she placed them on the table, she replicated one large orange juice and one coffee flavored with toasted almonds.She preferred the sweet juice while he liked to have a cup or two of coffee.One of the only differences between them, she thought, as Mark stepped out of the ensuite in the red uniform of command, the single pip of an Ensign on his tunic.She had always wondered how he got bridge duty as a Ensign and she was stuck on the lower decks as an Lieutenant Junior Grade.Perhaps she'd ask him someday, she thought.

"Good morning, dear," she greeted him with a kiss as they hugged."Thanks for the warm wakeup, my love," she whispered in his ear.

"Anytime," he replied, grinning, and took his seat at the table.He looked around and saw that John was not here."I take it John already left for Engineering," he said, not surprised at all.

"He does that often?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Oh yes," he replied."You have to pry him off of his station at the end of the duty shift," he said, his voice laced with sarcasm as he took a bite of his breakfast.He noticed his coffee prepared just as he liked it - black with the smell and flavor of toasted almonds.It was something he did not always get, as John would usually be up earlier and replicate him plain black coffee."You are wonderful to me, Jen," he said in acknowledgement.

"And you are wonderful to me," she replied."So, what happened on the bridge yesterday?" she asked, still not knowing exactly how it happened.Although she worked in a sensor control room, she only got the technical specifics of it."I know the technical aspects of why it happened, but what caused it?"

"You just asked the question that everybody is trying to answer.From my point of view at the helm, all things were quiet right up to when the event occurred.We had just cleared the last system in the sector and had crossed over into Sector 37629 when the ship began to get hit by the waves.What type of sensor data did you collect on it?"

"All I know is that they interfere with our Impulse engines by generating a certain frequency modulation.The sensors also showed that the more power we outputted to the impulse engines, the stronger the waves got, hence the major wave we got when you had to turn the ship around.Thanks for the broken knee," she added, her tone letting Mark know it was a joke.

"Sorry, I was under orders," he offered as an excuse as he took a sip of his coffee."I overheard from Commander Data that the modulation was the exact opposite of our Impulse engines, and at that time I had begun an engine shutdown procedure before the Captain had given the order.I fired the reverse thrusters to stop our forward momentum and here we are now," he finished as he ate the last bit of his bagel.

"It must be great working on the bridge, _Ensign_," she remarked sarcastically.

"Hey, _Lieutenant_, at least you don't have the entire senior crew judging your performance."

She thought of that for a moment.Suddenly a bridge position didn't seem like such a good notion after all."True," she conceded at last, finishing up her bagel and washing it down with the rest of her orange juice.

Jennifer got up and collected Mark's plate and cup and recycled them along with hers.They were about to leave when the red alert klaxons started, giving the quarters a reddish tint.

"_Alpha shift, report to battle stations.Senior Officers to the bridge_," the voice of the ship's resident android said over the intercom as the ship was buffeted to port.The strength of the blow ruled out the possibility that it was a gravimetric wave.

They ran out the door, embracing one last time before heading to their stations.

"Be careful, Mark.I love you," she said, walking towards the turbolift that would take her to Deck 6.

"I love you to, Jen," he replied as he headed for the bridge, wondering who - or what - was attacking the _Enterprise_.And why.

Ensign Mark Burton entered the bridge from the lower left turbolift, right next to the Captain's ready room.He could see all of the Senior Officers except Commander Riker.He crossed the command deck and relieved Ensign Amanda Graham, the Gamma shift officer who was currently manning the helm station.Data, who had been in command over the night watch, had resumed is station to the right next to him at Ops, and Commander LaForge, at the aft Engineering control station, had transferred control of engineering systems to the bridge.

"Report, Mr. Data.How did it get here?" Picard said.Burton looked up to the view screen for the first time and understood Picard's question.On the screen, in perfect condition, a Starfleet Class 1 Probe was hanging in space.

"The probe appeared approximately 3.8 minutes ago from a sort of cloaking device.I have sent the data to the Sensor control room on Deck 6 for analysis.It matches no cloaking pattern we have seen."

A blue-white beam of energy was fired from the probe, impacting the forward shields of the _Enterprise_.Obviously, the probe had been modified, as this class of probes was not equipped with any weapons.

Just then, Commander Riker entered from the turbolift near tactical, and walked down to his seat near the Captain, not noticing the image on the view screen

"Shields are at seventy-eight percent," the Klingon reported.

"What the hell?" Riker said as he looked at the forward screen for the first time.

"Sir," Data interrupted, "new sensor data is coming in.The weapon is made up of phased gravimetric energy.Each burst weakens our sensor efficiency by two-point-three percent."

"Identify that probe, Data," Riker ordered."What is its origin?"

"Stand by, Commander," the android said as he sent a identification string out to the probe.The probe fired again, impacting the forward shields again.

"Mr. Worf," Picard commanded, "Transfer power from the aft shields to the forward shields.Lock on to the probe and fire phasers, fifty percent power."

"Aye, sir," he responded from his position behind the Captain."Forward shields now up to ninety percent.Phasers locked and ready."

Another, more powerful, burst of gravimetric energy hit the ship, this time momentarily knocking out the lights on the bridge and replacing them with emergency lights. 

"Main power is offline on three decks, no damage to the core," LaForge said.

Riker looked at Picard for confirmation of the order to open fire, and when the Captain nodded, he turned to Worf and said "Fire."

"Firing phasers," Worf confirmed as bright red beams of energy erupted from the ship's lower banks.However, the phasers missed their target by a quarter of an inch.

"Report," Riker said.

"Sir," Data responded, "The sensors did not register the correct location of the probe.I will adjust them accordingly."

"Understood Commander," the Captain acknowledged."Fire at one hundred percent power when ready, Mr. Worf."

"Aye, Captain.The new sensor data is coming in now.Firing phasers," the Klingon responded.Once again, the _Enterprise_'s phasers lashed out at the probe, this time hitting on target.However, instead of destroying the probe like it should have, it only did minimal damage.

"What the hell is going on?Why is it still here?" Riker said, walking up to the Conn.

"Sir, the probe has lost power, but I doubt it will be for more than ten minutes.As to why the probe still exists, Commander, I will not know until I can do a full sensor scan of the probe."

Picard got up from his command chair and walked up next to the first officer."Mr. Worf arm the torpedoes.I want to be ready when the probe regains power."

"Aye sir," Worf said, enabling the photons and locking the target on the probe."Torpedoes locked and ready, Captain."

"Data," Riker said, "Is it possible to download the probe's logs to find out what happened to it?"

"Unknown, Sir.I am not completely certain they would be intact, but I can attempt to retrieve them."

"Do it, Mr. Data," Picard ordered.

"I am transmitting our identification signal now, Captain," the android replied as he issued the appropriate commands into the console."The probe acknowledges our signal, Sir, but the information doesn't match Starfleet encryption technology."

"Captain," Ensign Burton said, "we can isolate a section of the main computer core and download the information to that location."

"Good idea, Ensign," Picard said."Data?" he asked to confirm that it was, indeed, possible.

"I believe it is possible, Captain."

Questioned answered, Picard thought.

"Make it so, Commander."

"Aye, Sir.Isolating three unused sections of the main computer...engaging security protocols...transferring information," Data said while performing the operations.His board beeped, signifying it had fulfilled the requests."Transfer complete, sir.The probe's information is now isolated in the main computer."

"Data, can you tell how much time the probe will remain like this?" Riker asked.

"Unknown, sir.Our phaser fire did not seem to harm the probe itself, Commander.However, until sensors are completely repaired I cannot speculate further.Judging by the power outputs, the probe will continue to be dormant for approximately 20 minutes."

Picard looked at the screen, wondering what to do now.He knew his people had performed miracles to save the ship before, but this was different.They didn't even yet know how the probe had been modified or how it had the ability to use the power of gravimetric energy as a weapon.They needed answers - and they didn't have much time to get them.

Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth McDougal downloaded the new data from the bridge into the PADD, looking over it carefully.The Sensor Control Room was one of five on deck six, and handled the data that came in from the forward sensors as well as any data the bridge sent them.It was shaped like a rectangle, with a total complement of four people and one supervisor that was required to man it fully.There was only one entrance to the room, right near the Commander's workstation.The walls were lined with sensor diagnostic equipment and workstations with a long, oblong oak table that occupied the center of the room, where Commander McDougal organized her team.

"Okay people," she said, standing at the front of the table, "we have twenty minutes to figure out what makes this probe tick.I want ideas."She looked at her people, hoping they had some ideas about this.

"The reason we had to take the engines offline were because of gravimetric waves, correct?" Lieutenant Denson said, looking at her crewmates."Now this probe shows up and fires phased gravimetric energy at the ship.I find it very improbable these two incidents could be unrelated."

"Explain," McDougal said, clearly interested in this development.

"Well, I've been doing some research," she continued as she looked at her PADD."On stardate 43625 the _Enterprise_ encountered what they thought was some sort of wormhole, but the phenomena suddenly closed up on itself.I've been looking at the sensor data on that incident, and the logs show that - for just an instant - a ship registered on the sensors."

"But that was over four years ago, Jennifer.How could it possibly have any significance now?" a young ensign she knew him from Mark's poker team asked.Ensign Michael Shepard was fresh out of the academy, transferred to the _Enterprise_ at Starbase 105 right before they entered this region of space.

"Perhaps," Denson allowed."But upon further study of the phenomenon, I found that it was producing gravimetric fluctuations.The sensor analysis of the fluctuations show it to be the exact opposite modulation of our impulse drive.Whatever is effecting us out there, I believe that this was the initial forming of it."

Commander McDougal though about this.There had been numerous charting missions through this sector, and they would obviously have to be done at impulse.But how many had occurred since that stardate?"Ensign Shepard, I want you to find every ship that passed through this sector from the stardate Lieutenant Denson said forward.I need to know if they were going at warp or impulse," she ordered, though she already knew the answer.

"Aye, ma'am," he replied, going over to one of the research workstations."The computer will be done with the search in ten minutes," he told her from the other side of the room.

"Good.Bring your findings back here to me.Jen, I need you to try to dig deeper into these sensor readings.Try to bring out more detail on what type of ship that was about to come through.That might have the answer to our questions.

"Understood," Denson replied, going back over to the desk that her and McDougal shared.She called up the sensor readings and began to study the wormhole-like phenomena.

The next ten minutes were not very productive for the team.McDougal had gone back to her side of the desk, and pulled a couple of readings from the other sensor arrays - starboard and port - in the hopes they would have some data on the situation.She also sent out a message to the other four sensor control rooms to see if they had come up with any findings.Unfortunately, they had not had any better luck with the mystery.

"Commander," both Shepard and Denson exclaimed at the same time.They looked at each other and silently cursed the other for interrupting.

"One at a time, people," McDougal sternly ordered, obviously becoming irritated as more time went by with no new information."Ensign Shepard, you first.What was the result of the analysis?"

"All the ships and shuttlecraft that traversed all or part of this system since stardate 43625 have gone through at warp.The last time a ship traveled this sector of space at impulse was the _Louisiana_ on stardate 42145.3 on a routine charting mission."

Well that confirms my suspicion, McDougal thought."Okay, that means that the waves don't impact objects at warp.Subspace also doesn't seem to be affected."She looked back over at Jennifer."What have you found, Lieutenant?"

"The missing pieces of the puzzle."

Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his first officer quickly made their way to Deck 6, realizing there were only a couple minutes before the probe re-activated.Picard could have ordered the probe's immediate destruction after it powered down, but had decided against it in the end.The mission of this ship was to seek out new life and to explore the unknown.He believed he would be violating that mission by destroying the probe even though it had posed a threat to the ship and he would be well within his rights to do so.

The turbolift deposited them on Deck 6, and the Captain led the way around the corridor to where the sensor control room entrance was.He walked through the doors after they parted, with Riker following, and said to Commander McDougal, "Report."

"Lieutenant Denson figured it out, Sir," she said, giving her subordinate the credit she deserved."On stardate 43625 the ship came in contact with a wormhole-like phenomenon."

"Yes, I remember that," Riker said."We left a probe behind because of some of the strange readings we got.We were on our way to another planet though so we couldn't stay and investigate."

"I'm sure if you could decipher the probe's databanks," Denson stepped in, "you would find that their is a temporal displacement on the gravimetric waves - one that is exactly opposite of this one."

"We believe," McDougal concluded, "that the wormhole was actually a temporal gateway to another time in space.From the best we can tell it was about twenty five years ago near the Klingon outpost Narendra III."

Picard and Riker exchanged glances, clearly intrigued by this new line of theory."Have you found out how we can reverse this effect yet, Lieutenant?"

"Unfortunately, no.I can tell you, though, that the reason why they only respond to federation fusion reactor modulations is because it is a direct result of a fusion reactor explosion on a Federation vessel."

"Were you able to determine the name of the vessel, Lieutenant?" Picard asked, though he had a vague idea.He could think of only one time there was a battle that could have ended that way.

"Not from the sensor readings, Sir.But by referencing this information with the main computer, I have determined it was the _USS Enterprise-C_."

"The ship that put an end to the hostilities between the Federation and Klingon Empires," Riker stated, even though they all knew that fact.

"Do you have any ideas on how to reverse this effect?" Picard asked.

"I have an untested hypothesis, Sir, but I --"

She was cut off as the ship lurched and the lights dimmed.Evidently the probe had repaired itself.

"Captain Picard and Commander Riker report to the bridge immediately," the voice of Data said over their communicators.

Picard tapped the insignia on his left breast."We're on our way, Commander."He pointed at Denson and said, "Lieutenant, you're with us."

Denson looked at McDougal and she nodded in acknowledgement.Of course, she wouldn't be able to overrule the Captain's order, but it was just a courtesy."Aye, Captain," she replied as she followed them out the door.

In less than an hour, she had gone from a lower decks lieutenant to a officer who had changed the face of this whole situation.

Lieutenant Jennifer Denson stepped out of the turbolift and onto the bridge.She had been on the bridge before delivering sensor reports but had never taken the time to take in the immense picture it gave.A genuine Oak arch curved down to the front of the bridge from each sides of the Tactical station at which Worf was manning.In the center of the arch was the command chair, where she noticed Picard was heading, his first officer filling in the chair to his right.She noticed Mark at the Helm but did not have time to look for long as another lurch sent the bridge into momentary darkness.Denson walked over to the Science station and transferred all sensor readings to the console.

"Report," Picard ordered from his chair.

"Main power is fluctuating on decks 8 and 9, structural integrity is holding at eighty seven percent but falling, and the EPS conduits on deck twenty six have failed.I am rerouting through the auxiliary manifolds," Commander LaForge, seated at the other end of the aft bridge stations, said.

"Shields are at seventy nine percent," Worf announced.

"Captain," Data said, "the probe can fire its phased gravimetric charges once every 8.7 seconds.At this rate, structural integrity will collapse in four minutes."

"If we don't find a way to stop this soon, Captain," Geordi warned, "our shields will only protect us for three more minutes."

"Lieutenant Denson, have you figured out how to disable the probe's attacks yet?" Riker asked anxiously.

"No sir," Denson replied, aggravated that she could not find a way to reverse this effect.Then, she thought to herself, maybe she was going for too much, too fast.Maybe she should concentrate on something smaller.Another blast hit the ship, this time to port.

"The probe is now attacking our shields in a offensive pattern.Our shields will only last for another one and a half minutes, Sir if it continues its current attack," Worf reported.

Riker looked at the pattern and vaguely recognized it.He though he was mistaken at first, but upon second look he confirmed his initial thought."Captain," he said, "I don't believe this.The pattern the probe is using is Romulan in origin."

"Romulan?" the captain said, looking at his first officer with astonishment.But, before Riker could respond, the ship tilted to starboard.

Jennifer Denson, not paying much attention to the conversations around her or the overload in the console next to her, continued to focus on a new theory.Finally, Denson discovered what she was looking for.

"Captain!" she shouted, making Picard and Riker turn their heads in her direction."We need to reverse the polarity on our shields and match the shield frequency to the temporal distortion of the gravimetric forces in this region in order to effectively resist the probe's attack and protect ourselves from the gravimetric distortions."

Riker stood up, but was propelled back in his seat by another lurch, this time from the forward shields.He regained his composure and walked up to the Conn."Data?" he asked.

"A fascinating conclusion.How did you arrive at such a theory?" he asked as he turned to face Denson.

The next charge from the probe knocked out main power on the bridge and another of the rear consoles overloaded.A body was sent flying through the air and landed on the right ramp.

"Riker to sickbay, medical team to the bridge," he said, hitting his communicator.

"Dammit Data we can investigate her conclusions later," Picard said.Data's curiosity could be really annoying at times, he thought."Can it be done?"

"It will take me approximately thirty seconds to reverse the polarity of the shields, and another 1.2 minutes to match the shields to the temporal distortions."

"Shields at twenty one percent."

"Structural integrity will fail in forty one seconds," LaForge reminded the rest of them from his console.

"I will try to complete the enhancements sooner," Data responded as he started to send commands out to the ship, another lurch disrupting his calculations briefly.

_"Warning...Structural Integrity failure in thirty seconds_," the feminine voice of the computer said as the ship rocked again.

"Data."Picard was counting on the android's enhanced speed to get the needed enhancements done.

"Standby," came Data's one word response.

The ship rocked to port, causing one of the panels on the right wall of the bridge to explode."EPS relays on Decks one, two and four just went out," LaForge reported.

"_Warning...Structural Integrity failure in fifteen seconds._"

"Computer, disengage audio warnings until further notice," Riker ordered.

_"Acknowledged.Audio Warnings disabled._"

"Sir," Data said."The new shield specifications can now be engaged."

"Do it, Data," Picard ordered, realizing they were rapidly running out of time.

"Structural Integrity is failing," Geordi yelled.

The ship rocked hard to starboard, sending Worf to the ground and a haze of smoke all around the bridge.The smell of burnt circuits filled the area from the ventilation systems as well as from the conduit explosions.The view screen crackled as sensor data had degraded so much that a clear view was no longer possible.

"Report Data," Picard said from his command chair.

"There is a hull breach on deck twenty nine, however emergency force fields are in place and holding.The enhanced shields are now rendering the probe's attacks useless, Sir."

Picard sighed.Now, at least, the ship was protected from the surrounding space.The problem that plagued them now, though, was how to reverse the effect it had on the system itself.

Mark had heard the console explosions behind him and was afraid that it was Jennifer was the one who had been propelled across the deck.But the situation had forced him to concentrate on his job as thoughts ran through his mind of what could be happening behind him.He heard Riker call for a medical team and the fear began to build within him.He saw Jennifer enter the bridge behind Picard and Riker but still did not know why.He would make it a point to ask her tonight.

If he could ask her tonight.

After Commander Data had initiated the modified shields that his girlfriend had come up with, the attack on the ship seemed to have stopped, but not before causing a hull breach.He wanted to glance behind him to the aft stations but was afraid of what he might find.

"Sir, we can bring the fusion reactors online now.The shields should prevent the modulation from being detected by the gravimetric waves," he heard Jen say from behind, putting his fears to rest.

"I think we should move the ship to a safe distance from the probe, Captain," Riker offered.

"Make it so, Ensign," Picard ordered.But Burton did not hear the order.His eyes were closed, trying not to think about what his mind told him had happened, even though he knew she was okay now.He inhaled the air, which smelled like burnt circuits, and let out a long breath.

"Ensign Burton, the Captain gave you an order," Riker sounded in, his voice like a brick hitting him in his stomach.

Burton, suddenly remembering the Captain's order, replied, "um...yes...yes, Sir.Beginning Fusion reactor restart sequence."

"Stand down from red alert," the Captain ordered, the dimmed lights not changing since main power was still down.The red lights stopped flashing, being replaced with the steady glow of yellow alert.

Burton's console beeped, signaling the Fusion reactors were online."Engaging impulse engines, full reverse power," he iterated as his hands flew over the controls, once again in control of himself, knowing now that Jennifer was okay.

The bridge ventilation systems finally compensated for the haze of smoke, clearing the air and restoring the normal environment.The probe continued to fire at the ship, but its attacks were rendered useless by the enhanced shields.But even though the shields are keeping the _Enterprise _safe from the surrounding space, it was not enough for Picard.Now that the threat to his ship and crew had been vanquished, he could now investigate the matter.In the past thirty minutes, many facts had been revealed and because of the crisis they had not been able to pay much attention to them.

The senior staff sat in their customary positions at the oak table in the conference lounge.Lieutenant Jennifer Denson was seated next to Dr. Crusher, who looked extremely fatigued after treating the serious injuries from Deck twenty-nine where the hull breach had occurred.

"Doctor?" Picard said.He did not ask for a casualty report, nor did he ask about the injuries.He didn't have to.

Crusher could see the fear in his eyes, the concern lining his face.She knew what the Captain was asking because they had been friends for such a long time.Picard served with Crusher's late husband, and had been the one to bring her the news of his death.Because of this circumstance, they had forged a unique friendship."We haven't had any fatalities yet, Captain but many are seriously injured.Four crewmen our scheduled for surgery in the next hour and others are still recovering."

"Mr. LaForge, what is the status of the hull integrity?" Riker asked, knowing that a hull breach of this magnitude could seriously impact the overall integrity of the ship.

"That last blast shook us up bad, Captain," Geordi replied grimly."We won't be able to engage the warp engines for the next 6 hours without risking structural collapse.The emergency force fields are in place but because of the size of the breach we will have to travel at Warp 4 so we don't fracture any more of the hull in that area.I have my team working on it now, Sir."

"Understood, Commander." Picard said."That gives us the rest of the day to unravel this mystery.I do not want to stay in this space any longer than we have to."

"I agree, Captain.The shields take up a lot of energy to maintain, but I should be able to keep them up for seventy two hours max." LaForge agreed.

"Very well," Picard acknowledged."Number One, you said something about the probe's pattern being Romulan," he continued as he turned to his first officer.

"Yes, Sir.It was an old offensive pattern I studied at the academy during our battle simulations.The Romulans haven't used that technique in over twenty years which made it work even better," Riker smiled, remembering how many teams he had defeated with that strategy.

Jennifer Denson looked up.She did not completely know why that figure stuck out in her mind."Captain, may I go back to sensor control with Commander Riker?I have a theory."

"Commander?" the Captain asked.

"Anything that gets us closer to the answer is fine with me," Riker replied, getting up from his chair.He wondered what exactly Denson could have come up with in such a sort amount of time.She was already walking through the door to the bridge when Riker caught up to her.

After they left, Picard turned to Data."Commander, I want you to try and decipher the databanks of the probe.Find out what happened to it since we first left it here.Perhaps the Romulans noticed the gravimetric distortions and were using this area as a testing ground for a new weapon.If that was the case, he would definitely have to send out an encrypted message to Command.

"Aye, Sir," the gold-skin android replied."It is using an encryption algorithm I am unable to identify, but it is definitely not from Starfleet.I will study current data on the newest Romulan encryption techniques."

"Make it so, Data," Picard ordered.

Data nodded, stood up from his chair and left the room, heading for the Science station on the bridge.

"Is there anything else?" Picard asked, looking around at his crew.

"Very well, you are all dismissed," he said.Picard watched as his staff filed out through the two doors to the conference room.When he was all alone he got up out of his chair and looked out the windows that stretched the entire side of the room.The _Enterprise _was the largest and most powerful ship in Starfleet, yet when compared to the vast space out there, it seemed so miniscule, so tiny.And yet, he believed, this one ship could make a difference here, exploring the galaxy.

Q had said that humans were supposed to stay on their planet, that space exploration was not for them.He had even threatened, over eight years ago, to wipe their existence from time because of their "primitive" ways.In their encounters through the year, Picard had tried to demonstrate that the perception the Q continuum had was wrong.Hopefully he had succeeded, although Q had said at their last meeting that humanity's trial will never end.

Picard sighed, forcing the thoughts of his last encounter with the being away.He needed to focus on the current situation.He took one last look at the stars and then turned and walked out the door to the bridge.

Ensign Mark Burton had been left in command of the bridge during the senior staff's briefing, which, he noticed, Jennifer also intended.Later, when she walked out the door with Commander Riker and went to the turbolift, he knew that her brilliant mind must have devised some sort of solution.

He smiled even though he was currently in command, admiring the only one he had ever truly loved.Burton did not know how he had been so lucky as to have her return that love, but he thanked whatever entity had let him be happy every day.They had only been together for a few months, but they knew so much about each other that it seemed as if they were destined to be with one another.This was not a passing love, but a bond that would outlast time itself.

Commander Data stepped out of the conference room, interrupting Burton's thoughts.After Burton determined he was going to stay on the bridge, he vacated the Captain's chair grudgingly and relieved the ensign who had temporarily took his position.He did not have the chance to be in command often, usually only during conferences.Mark had taken a couple of night shifts but didn't really enjoy the experience that much, especially with the reduced crew on the bridge.Now, he would not even try to take on a night shift, as he would rather be with his love.

He looked at his console, gratified to see everything just as he left it.When he took command, Burton realized that he did not absolutely need to call for a replacement helm officer but did so because it was a matter of protocol.The ship was maintaining a station-keeping position approximately 500,000 kilometers from the probe.The probe had stopped its attacks approximately fifteen minutes ago.Burton had assumed it needed to recharge its batteries before it resumed its now useless attack._It's definitely persistent_, he thought wryly.

The doors to the conference room opened once more, revealing the rest of the senior crew, all expect for the Captain.Burton had noticed that Picard had always spent a couple minutes alone after a conference, possible contemplating his decisions, he decided.

Burton glanced at his chronometer - 1130 hours.He wondered if Alpha shift would take a lunch break today, in light of the current situation.Even if it were granted, he thought, Jennifer would probably remain in sensor control, forcing him to spend lunch in the crew lounge.Expecting this, he accessed the console in his quarters and downloaded the newsletter on enhancements in helm technology, which he had received in the last Starfleet transmission.He was looking forward to reading it in the evening on the couch, as he knew Jen would have to file her reports at her quarters after they ate.Hopefully he would see her sometime today, as being away from her was eating away at him the longer they were apart.

Captain Picard exited the conference room and said in a low voice to Data, "You have the bridge, Commander.I'll be in my ready room."

"Aye, Sir," came the android's standard response.Burton watched Picard walk the length of the upper bridge and down the ramp, turning left as he entered his ready room.

Mark, having received no message of lunch break being delayed, locked his console and told the computer to send up his relief officer to replace him.He allowed himself a 30-minute break as he entered in the information to his log, even though his normal was one hour.In a crisis, sometimes you had to make allowances.Although he still hoped he would see Jennifer on his break.

Mark entered his quarters, not surprised to see that his roommate was not back for his lunch.Mr. LaForge must have his staff working double shifts to repair the structural integrity field, Burton thought.He went over to his desk near his bed and picked up the PADD; glad to see the data had been transferred as per his request.He decided he would go to the crew lounge on Deck 6 after stopping by Jen's quarters to see if she did, indeed, take a lunch break.If not, she would be at sensor control on Deck 6.He decided he would drop in and see how she was doing before heading for the lounge.

He picked the PADD up from the desk and walked back out the door, turning down the corridor and heading towards the turbolift.He instructed the turbolift to go to Deck 8, where Jen's quarters were located.After nobody answered, he walked back to the lift and entered his destination as Deck 6.He had been here before on occasion.Jen had sometimes lost track of time and would stay after her shift had ended, and he would be the one to pull her away from work so that they could relax together.

He approached the sensor control room and entered.He saw Jen at the far wall with Commander Riker, working on something that was on the screen.Upon the door opening, they both looked back and Jen said something to Riker and walked over to him.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi, Mark," came her response.

"Lunch?" he asked unsurely, seeing that Riker was still with her and they apparently were working on something.

She groaned."Oh, Mark I'm sorry.The Commander suggested we skip lunch to try and unravel this mystery."She lowered her tone so that Riker couldn't here her and said, "I didn't have much choice, honey.I hope you understand."

Mark sighed, but smiled to show her that he did."I understand, my love.We're still on for Dinner, right?"

"Definately.I hope to have this wrapped up by 1400 hours."

"Great, come to my quarters when you finish.There is something I meant to discuss with you this morning."

"I will," she replied."I promise, Mark," she added after a moment.

He lowered his voice so that Commander Riker would not hear and said, "I love you."

"I love you too," she replied.She waved at him and walked back inside the room.He left, disappointed that he could not spend lunch with his love, and headed for the crew lounge down the hall.Nobody ever said that living with a Starfleet woman would be easy, he thought as he entered the lounge.

"Sorry, Commander," Denson said as she walked back to the station where the first officer was working.

"I understand, Lieutenant," Riker replied."The Romulans retired that offensive maneuver approximately six months after the destruction of the _Enterprise-C_.Are you saying they somehow could see the probe through this temporal gateway?"

"It doesn't seem feasible for the Romulans to cross into Federation space to install a new weapons system and reprogram the probe – on top of that to flood the whole sector with these gravimetric distortions, Commander."

He looked at her."You've got a point," he allowed, sighing."Any luck with the sensor logs?"

"Very little, Sir," she replied.Denson was going over the sensor logs of that time, trying to find any notice of a transmission through the temporal gateway.

"Why is it so important we locate this transmission, Lieutenant?If it did come from an earlier point of time then what could we do about it?" Riker asked, still not quite following Denson's theory.

"You're thinking like I did at first, Commander.It's not about what we can do with the transmission, exactly – more about the wavelength it was transmitted on.If my theory is correct, sir, this whole mess started with this transmission.The Romulan subspace carrier frequencies must have interacted somehow with the gateway, causing everything currently in this region to lose sync and go into a state of gravimetric flux."

"That's why the _Enterprise_ had the problem with the gravimetric waves," Riker realized, catching on to what she was saying.

"Right," Denson continued, as she punched a couple of buttons on her console."When I came up with the enhanced shielding, I was hoping it would isolate the ship from the surrounding space.Now, in order to reverse the effect on the system, we will have to find the frequency, use its exact opposite, and send out a deflector pulse at the vertex of where the temporal gateway occurred."

"Will that destroy the gateway?"

"It should, and all of the space in the system will be restored to normal."

Just then, the Commander's console beeped."Lieutenant, I'm getting an odd reading on my board."

Denson walked over to Riker's position."Let me take a look," she said as Riker stood up, letting Jennifer sit down."What is it, Lieutenant?" he asked from behind her.

"It seems to be a heavily degraded subspace signal, originating from the temporal gateway.I am attempting to isolate a portion of the message and download it into the databanks," she said as her fingers flew over the controls.

"Is it what we've been looking for?"

"We'll find out in a moment, Commander," Denson replied as she transferred part of the message into the computer."I'm opening it up now."

The images on the screen in front of them changed as the message began to display on the console.The writing was encrypted, but the computer quickly recognized the algorithm and decrypted the message.The writing that showed up was unmistakable.

"Romulan," Riker stated

"This _is_ what we've been looking for, Commander.It will take the computer a few moments to calculate the opposite temporal frequency."

"Now how do we restore the system to normal?" the first officer asked.

"I'll need the Ops station on the bridge to be tied into the main deflector in order to compute the exact frequency needed and account for any last minute adjustments."

"Preparation time?"

"About forty-five minutes, Commander."

"Let's make it one hour, Lieutenant.I want to give Mr. LaForge time to transfer the required power," Riker ordered."Report to the Ops station on the bridge and make the necessary preparations."

"Understood, Commander," she replied.They walked towards the door and out into the corridor.

Finally they have the solution to the problem.Hopefully Mark and her would be able to log off duty early today, in light of the extra time they had logged yesterday and spend some time together.As she entered the turbolift and waited for it to take her to the bridge, she realized that she wanted to spend more time with Mark every day, even though she had known him a long time._But you've never known him like this,_ her inner voice said._You've never known him as your love, only as your friend_.

The relief officer for Data must have been informed of her arrival, as he vacated the seat for her.She looked over at the Helm station, seeing that Burton had not returned from his lunch break as of yet.Burton's relief officer, Daniel Fox, was still at the controls.She sighed and looked down at her console, beginning the necessary preparations to restore space to normal.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard walked out of his ready room with his first officer, Commander Will Riker, following behind him.Will had just brought him up to speed on the last of the adjustments that had needed to be met in order to initiate the deflector pulse.Main power would have to be cut during the procedure as a lot of the ship's energy was directed to the structural integrity field at the moment, insuring that the breach on Deck twenty-nine did not spread.

"Status," Picard said, signaling for all posts to report.

"Warp power has been channeled to the Main Deflector, Captain.When we initiate the pulse, the ship will switch to auxiliary power temporarily to provide the extra support to the integrity field," LaForge said from his aft engineering station.

"I have transmitted the coordinates of the temporal gateway's vertex to Ops, Captain," Data said from the aft science station.

"I've received the coordinates, Sir," came Denson's reply.The tension on the bridge was high, knowing that they could only due this once.

"Gravimetric shields are holding," Worf replied.

"I've put the ship directly in front of the gateway, Sir," Burton said at the helm.

Picard stood up from his chair and walked up to the Conn."All right, let's do this," he said, letting all personnel know that they were proceeding with the plan."Mr. LaForge, transfer systems to auxiliary power and increase the structural integrity field."

"Aye, Sir," he said as the lights dimmed on the bridge and all non-essential stations were shut down."Auxiliary power is now online, Captain."

"Mr. Data, initialize the Main Deflector," Riker said as he too got up and walked up next to the Captain.

"Main Deflector is initialized and awaiting input," the android replied from the back of the bridge.

"Lieutenant?" Picard said, looking towards Denson.

"I am now transmitting the instruction to the deflector, Sir," Denson responded, giving the computer the necessary commands."The deflector has received the directions and is awaiting the order to proceed."

Picard looked at the forward view screen.One could not tell there was a temporal gateway about 250,000 kilometers in front of them by looking.If the sensors were not able to pick up the minute fluctuation emitted by the phenomenon, they would not realize the gateway was there at all.He looked back towards his first officer who was standing to his right, and did not have to ask to know that Riker agreed it was time to do it.Instead, Picard could see his first officer's agreement in his eyes.He turned back to the view screen and said, "Make it so, Lieutenant."

"Aye, Captain," Denson replied."Main Deflector is engaging."

On the screen, a beam of sparkling gold energy advanced to the vertex of the temporal gateway.The beam would continue until all trace of the gateway's presence was gone from the sensor displays.

"Impact on the vertex in approximately ten seconds," she reported.

"Worf," Riker ordered, "Take the Gravimetric shields offline."

"Sir?" Worf replied, confused.

"Do it, Lieutenant," Picard ordered."If we leave the shields up, we may be the ones out of sync with space."

"Aye sir," Worf acknowledged."Gravimetric Shields are offline."

"Disengaging fusion reactors," LaForge said from the engineering console.

"Impact in three seconds," Denson said.The beam impacted with the vertex and the ship began to vibrate slightly."We're getting some feedback from the gateway, CaptainI will attempt to compensate."As Denson entered in a few more commands, the vibrations subsided.

"The gateway will dissipate in approximately thirteen-point-three seconds," Data said.

The energy beam continued to impact the vortex of the gateway.The wormhole-like phenomenon appeared, and for an instant all of time coalesced.Neither sensors nor most of the crew noticed, as it happened so quickly.Data, however, had seen everything that had happened and will happen in this sector.His positronic brain could not process all of the information and therefore only kept the events that had happened here in the past six years.He knew, suddenly, what the _Enterprise_'s sensors had picked up during the charting of this system over five years ago.It had not been some sensor echo, as he had originally hypothesized.Instead, he realized, it had been the _Enterprise-C_, badly damaged from Romulan fire.It had escaped from the battle at Narendra III only to go back and be destroyed.But, Data realized, the destruction of the ship had a purpose – it not only restored the timeline but also stopped the hostility between the Klingon Empire and the Federation, just as it did originally.Data stored the data in his positronic net for examination later, deciding that he would not tell the crew about it but keep the information to himself.The crew, after all, did not need to know about the existence of an alternate timeline in which the Klingon Empire had destroyed the Federation.

Then, a gravimetric wave formed from where the vertex of the gateway had been, expanding as it began to restore the system.The wave passed through the _Enterprise_ and continued on, purging the space of the gravimetric distortions.

"Report," the Captain said.

"All signs of gravimetric distortions have disappeared, Captain" Data replied."The space in this system has returned to normal."

"Disengage the main deflector," Picard ordered.

"Deflector has been terminated," Denson replied.

"I'm now bringing main power back online," LaForge said.

"Re-initialize the fusion reactors, too, Geordi.I think it's time we moved on," Riker said as he turned to face the engineer.Then, looking back at the Captain, he asked with humor lacing his voice, "Should we leave another probe, Captain?"

Picard took one look at his first officer and walked back towards his command chair."I think not, Commander," he retorted as he sat down."Mr. Burton, lay in a course to Starbase 105 at Warp 4."

"Course laid in, Sir."

"Engage."

Mark entered his quarters and sat down at the desk.The past few days had been very inconvenient, forcing him away from Jennifer right after they proclaimed their love for each other.Of course, they had interacted professionally on a number of occasions over the past few days, but it wasn't the same.On a professional level, he was with Lieutenant Junior Grade Jennifer Denson, a sensor specialist who was totally committed to her job.When Mark is with the person behind that shell, though, he is with the one he loves with all his heart and soul.In a way, he hadn't seen Jennifer in two days and he was aching to see her wonderful hazel eyes, touch her smooth skin, and just spend time with his love.

The doors to the room opened, allowing John O'Neil, Mark's roommate, into the room.From the image he portrayed, Mark could tell that he was exausted."Hard day?" he asked needlessly.

"Unh huh," came the muffled response as John collapsed on the bed."Two double shifts later, and all we did was put a piece of tape on the hull," he sarcastically said.The 'piece of tape' was actually structural integrity power enhancers, designed to increase the power of the field in the area they were put in.Although they were fairly simple devices, they were a pain to install because they had to be position exactly correct to ensure proper operation.

"Have fun?" Mark said, continuing his completely useless line of questioning.He had nothing better to do at the moment, as he was waiting for Jennifer to file her log reports.

"Oh yeah, loads of fun," John replied."I was overjoyed when Geordi called and told us we had to reroute all the main power to the main deflector.Make sure to remind me to thank that girlfriend of yours for that," he said groggily.

"You better watch it John, my girlfriend got us out of this mess," he replied, defending his girlfriend.

"Yeah, I know," he said, realizing he was in no position to argue.He was the one currently immobilized on the bed, after all."Speaking of Jennifer, are you two going to go out tonight?"

"Yeah, she'll be by as soon as she finishes the log reports.Don't worry, Mark, we'll be out by 1900 hours."

"Oh," Mark said in a weak voice."That's good," he concluded as he fell into a deep slumber.

Mark shook his head and closed the door to the bedroom, enabling the sound resistant paneling from the control panel at the other side.He picked up the PADD he was reading during his lunch break and fell down on the couch in the living area.Mark hadn't had the chance to finish it and decided to do so until Jennifer got here.

"Denson to Burton," he heard his girlfriend's voice over the communicator.When she identified herself like that, it was usually a professional call.Mark wondered what she needed him for.

"Go ahead, Lieutenant," he responded with confusion

"Report to my quarters on the double, Ensign.That's an order," she said, the hints in her voice making Mark realize it was not a professional call after all.She was just playing around.

"I'm on my way, Ma'am," he replied, deciding to play along.He was looking forward to where this was going to lead.He stepped out of his quarters and into the lift."Deck 8," he instructed the computer.

Jennifer heard her door chime ring and knew it was Mark.She smiled, making sure the last candle was lit."Computer," she ordered, "Decrease lighting by fifty percent."The computer beeped to indicate it understood and the lights dimmed accordingly."Play music selection one four nine," she said, and Wagner's Siegfried Idyll began to play lightly.

The door chime rang again."Come in," she said, triggering the doors to open.Mark stood there, still in his uniform and looked at her.She was dressed in a light blue dress that only came down to her upper thighs and that looked more like a nightgown than anything else.

"Jen?" Mark questioned, seeing all of the elaborate work that was done to arrange this romantic dinner.She had spent the last hour preparing everything, putting off her log reports until tomorrow – even though she would have to get up extremely early to do them.She looked around and decided it was worth it.

"Yes?" she responded, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him tenderly on his lips.

"Have I ever told you how absolutely wonderful you are to me?" he asked between kisses as he embraced her, running his hands over the smooth skin of her face."

"Mmm hmm," she replied."I love you, Mark"

"I love you too Jen, with all of my heart and soul," he told her.She loved it when he said things like that.Mark was able to make her feel special and unique, apart from everyone else.He would allow her space when she was angry, comfort her when she was sad, and love her all the time don't matter what mood she was in.He understood her on a deeper level; one that nobody else had realized had even existed.

She had to fight hard to break the embrace that she was in.She found herself willing to forget about the whole dinner thing and just do this all night, but she forced herself not to.Mark had wanted to tell her something before this crisis began and she was going to pound it out of him.

"We'll have to resume that after dinner," Jen told her love."But first, we need our energy," she said with a wry smile playing about her lips.

He followed her to the table where, apart from the soft light on the edge of the wall, candles provided the only light in the room.He could smell the aroma of the wax as he sat down in the chair opposite Jennifer."Replicated?" he asked, the essence of the candles smelling so much like the real thing.

"Actually, no.Before we left the Academy for here, I bought a couple dozen at a local store in San Francisco.They're hand made, just like they were in the 1800s."

"They're perfect," he told her."So what is for dinner tonight?" he asked her, as if it were just another night in the crew lounge.But it was so much more than that to Jennifer.This dinner was a testament to their combined love for each other and their friendship.

In response to his question, she lifted the top off the dish in the center of the table, revealing a Top Sirloin steak that smelled of mesquite marinade.When they were young, her parents invited Mark and his family over for old-fashioned "cook out" dinners and she had tried to recreate one of his favorite dishes through the replicator."I had to reprogram the replicator for fifteen minutes," she told him, "But I think I finally got it right.

Mark was astonished and removed the covers to the rest of the dishes, not needed to be told what they were."Steak fries, cranberry sauce, and corn," he said, pointing at the other three dishes on the table.

"And we can't forget my Mother's famous iced tea," Jennifer said as she poured a glass of the sweet liquid for both of them.They both took their helpings on to the plates and Mark cut a piece of the steak.Jennifer watched, knowing that his first reaction would tell her if she got it right or not, regardless of what he said.

"Mmmm…" Mark said as he chewed on a piece of the steak.Jennifer could tell that she got it right, and she smiled."This tastes perfect!" he exclaimed."How on earth did you do it?"

She raised her hands."Sorry, family secret.I can't tell you," she teased.

"Will you tell me if I marry you?" he asked.At first, Jennifer thought he was joking, but the sincere look in his eyes told her otherwise.

She couldn't believe it.He beat her to the question.She had planned on asking him to marry her later in the evening but she was going to do it after the meal.She suddenly realized her jaw was hanging open and closed it quickly.

Mark continued, not knowing what his love was thinking, "I know its sudden, Jen, but…"

"Of course I'll marry you, Mark," she said, interrupting him mid-sentence.

Both of them got up out of their chairs and embraced again, neither of them moving for a long time, just happy to have each other."Did you want to go to sleep?" she asked him.

"No" he replied, "but I would love to go to bed."

She smiled at him and walked over to the entrance to the bedroom.He was started to walk over to her when he suddenly remembered the meal she took time to make."What about dinner?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it, honey," she replied."I saved the recipe," she said, smiling.

"You think of everything, my love," he told her honestly.

"No more thinking," Jennifer said as she walked over to Mark and extended her hand to him.Mark took it and they entered the bedroom together, hand in hand, and made love the rest of the night.They didn't care about the ship or the universe on this evening, only about each other and the life they were making with each other – one based on pure love, straight from the heart.

**[Back to Season I][1][Next Episode][2]**

**[Star Trek: Junior Officers Home][3]**

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   [2]: s1ep2.html
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